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An Encounter with “Authority”

It was another day when I have to rush to the office; my patience was stretched to the limit even before I get to work for several reasons: my food was served late, got stuck on a traffic and I’m late for work. I knew for myself that I just need to shrug things off and start new again with all my best, because my work requires tons of patience for me to get by the day.

The moment I reached the office, the guard in the building lobby told me to stop and wear my shoes…yes! How can I forget that I was still wearing my flip flops on?! I was rushing that much that I tried to ask the guard to just let me pass by this time, so I can wear my formal shoes on when I reached my office space. He said no. I insisted. He yelled at me. I gave in and wore my shoes as what he wanted me to do…then he started scolding at me. That’s it! This means war!

I know it’s bad, but I answered back with the same tone of voice as he was given me. I admit that I yelled at him, just because I don’t know why he have to be rude, even if I’m already doing what he told me to do. I don’t understand why, even if I said “sorry po” with a smile, he still yelled at me. I know my fault, I did what he said, so why he still need to do that? I tried thinking and putting justice on what was done on me.

So I thought:

1. Maybe he also have a bad day, worst than what I have, that’s why he has done that…but is it reasonable?

2. Perhaps it’s his way to show authority, because as a building guard, he needs to make sure that all people going inside the premises is following rules to keep the place secure.

3. Or, it could be that I was not the first person he repremanded for wearing slippers when getting in the building…

Whatever the reason was, I still think that he could have just reported me to the security group where I work at and have my boss talk to me. I like things being done with process.

I then thought of what happened to the “Am a layer” girl, where a viral video shows a female student yelling at security (lady) guard. I didn’t get that far. No video was taken. Whew!

I realized, maybe she was also put on the spot and lost control, which made her say and act like a crazy lass in a public place. There will be instances where we lose control, say bad things to someone, hurt a stranger’s emotion and humiliate ourselves in public. Too bad for her, her side of the story was not revealed.

Educated or not, after what happened today, I completely understand that no matter how hard we try to control ourselves, we still need to be rational and just follow the ethics our company is expecting from us. For people in authority and those who serve the public, ideally those who supposed to keep us safe, should know that being bossy will not earn you respect and fear. I know they have to act tough, but they should understand enough on how treat thier “customers” with manners. A badge and a gun on hand is not enough to gain authority; the world doesn’t just work that way. As for the guard who shouted at me, I got my complaints done…I will let his supervisor do something to him.